Baby to be taken off life support after parents lose court appeal

LONDON — The legal fight is over: A hospital in the United Kingdom will take an infant off life support after his parents failed to convince a court that he could be saved with an experimental treatment.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday that keeping 10-month-old Charlie Gard alive would do nothing but prolong his pain, reports the Guardian.

He suffers from a rare disease known as mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome, and parents Chris Gard and Connie Yates wanted to take him to the U.S. for experimental treatment.

His U.K. doctors, however, say it’s hopeless, and parents’ rights are not absolute in the U.K. in such cases, CNN reports. A number of courts ruled against them, with their last hope being the ECHR.

But the seven justices declined to overrule the British courts.

“The decision is final,” said the ruling.

Charlie is currently on life support at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, and a spokesman said the hospital would not “rush” to take him off it.

“Our priority is to provide every possible support to Charlie’s parents as we prepare for the next steps,” the hospital said.

“The details on where Charlie’s parents had wanted to take him in the U.S. have been kept under wraps during the legal wrangling, and supporters had raised more than $1.6 million to cover expenses.

Medical experts in Britain said the treatment had no chance of saving the infant, but his parents made the case on their website that it was worth a try.

“He literally has nothing to lose but potentially a healthier, happier life to gain,” they wrote.